Shatner, Takei and Koenig Reunite for Star Trek's 60th Birthday

If you grew up with the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise like I did, the original Star Trek has been a familiar and welcome source of optimism for decades. And although many of the actors who first pulled on those Starfleet uniforms are gone now, the surviving members of the original cast are revisiting that optimism one more time by coming together to tell their story.

The film is titled The Sixty-Year Mission: How Star Trek Changed Television and the World, and it will open exclusively in Regal cinemas across the United States on October 9. The documentary hasWilliam Shatner, the original Captain Kirk, as an executive producer and interview subject. He is joined by George Takei and Walter Koenig, the two other living members of the show’s founding ensemble. Shatner, now 95, last played Kirk on screen in 1994’s Star Trek Generations, and his part here is as much steward as subject.

Related: Noah Wyle and The Pitt Cast Are Beaming Up for Star Trek

Star Trek premiered on NBCon September 8, 1966, with an episode called “The Man Trap,” (a milestone being celebrated by Noah Wild and the cast of The Pitt). The series lasted only three seasons before finding a second life in syndication. The show nearly ended after its second season, saved by a fan letter-writing campaign that convinced NBC its audience was larger than the ratings showed. The documentary traces that origin and the decades that followed, promising a behind-the-scenes account that, in the words of its official synopsis, proves “truth is indeed stranger than science-fiction.”

Behind the camera is Mark A. Altman, the writer and director who wrote the definitive book on the subject with his 2016 oral history The Fifty-Year Mission. “This film is a love letter to Star Trek,” Altman said in a statement, framing the theatrical release as a birthday gift to fans. The Fifty-Year Mission earned a reputation as a candid, unvarnished account, and the film’s website tallies more than 50 stars, creatives and fans among its voices. The interview roster stretches across every era, with Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, Gates McFadden and Denise Crosby from The Next Generation, Nana Visitor from Deep Space Nine, Robert Picardo from Voyager, and Ethan Peck and Christina Chong from Strange New Worlds. Gene Roddenberry‘s son, Rod, appears as well.

The timing arrives at a somewhat odd time for Trek fans. There are no new series or films in active production and Strange New Worlds is winding down with a shortened final season. Producer Michael S. Broder of Galaxie Pictures said the Regal run will bring “key Star Trek talent” into theaters for live Q&A sessions, and La-La-Land Records is releasing the soundtrack. The anniversary itself falls on September 8, with the documentary following about a month behind it.

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